Relationship between nuclear DNA-content of sperm cells and the timing of events in the cell cycle of Brassica campestris L. (Brassicaceae)
In this work we conducted a quantitative analysis of the nuclear DNA-content of developing sperm cells of the plant <em>Brassica campestris</em> L. The sperm cells were in young pollen grain, mature pollen grain and pollen tubes. When generative cells, at the pre-anthesis stage, split into two sperm cells, we have established that the newly-formed sperm cells begin to synthesize nuclear DNA in developing pollen grain of <em>B. campestris</em>. We measured this DNA-content during the development of sperm cells. The results indicate that during development, sperm cells of <em>B. campestris</em> have passed the G<sub>1</sub> phase of the cell cycle and entered the S phase, presumably then fusing with egg cells at a level of 2C, as is characteristic of G<sub>2</sub> type fertilization in angiosperms.